Reviews
** spoiler alert ** The book starts off with "Cuba Revisited" by Martha Gellhorn, an essay originally published in The View from the Ground (1988). Martha Gellhorn was Ernest Hemingway's third wife (1940-6) and spent her marriage living in Havana. She returned in 1987 and that trip forms the basis of this essay. As to be expected, Gellhorn's essay compares Havana before and after Castro. At first she is sad to see the changes but as she travels around the city and visits with the people she comes to see some of the positives. She never endorses Castro's regime. Her positive take on things is more a celebration of the human spirit than an approval. My favorite part of the essay is her visit to a local school. She sits in on an English class, a history class and a biology class. This section reminded me of my own time as an exchange student to Mexico City, so I bonded with her own hunt for nostalgia in Havana. *** The second item in Havana is an excerpt from Christina Garcia's novel Dreaming in Cuban. Celia as a grandmother to twin girls looks back on her life, comparing her current situation to the unhappiness of her early marriage and the lover who left her. She also shares a brief memory of the early days of the revolution and the way it served as well needed distraction from her life. The melancholy tone of the excerpt with the pastiche of magical realism reminds me Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo. I liked the twenty pages I read and hope to some day read the entire novel. **** The third item in Havana is an excerpt from Consuelo Hermer and Marjorie May's book Havana Mañana called "What to Wear.' Hermer and May warn against the tell tale signs of being a "tourista" when visiting Havana. They offer wardrobe advice for men and women for all seasons. The basic advice is "dress as you would for work at home but in lighter weight fabrics." Although the specific advice is probably now dated the foundation is still sound for wherever one may travel. Dress for the weather but keep in mind the type of place being visited. If visiting a large well established city, dress formally but in weather appropriate fabrics. Wear more conservative colors in the winter months than the summer months. Of course, the other option is to do what you darn well please but be willing to be branded a tourist! **** The fourth selection in Havana is an interview from Frei Betto's collaboration with Fidel Castro, Fidel and Religion (1987). Although both men have an ongoing respect for each other, it's hard to tell from this interview. It's an absolutely bristling interaction between Brei and Castro. In between the bickering and interrupting, Castro outlines a brief history of his childhood, his parents' background and his religious up bringing. Castro describes how very rural much of Cuba was and Spanish traditions influenced life even in these out of the way places. It's hard for me to imagine an entire book of this confrontational writing style. **** The fifth piece in Havana is a letter from Sophia Peabody (soon to be Hawthorne) to her parents while she was in Cuba for her health. Her letter is among my favorites so far because of my fondness for her husband's books. Sophia by the way was the inspiration for House of the Seven Gables; (1851) I highly recommend it if you haven't read it. In her letter (the third written during her trip), Sophia describes the voyage and the fun she had borrowing the captain's glass to watch the "distant ships and land when ever they were in sight." She goes on to describe where she is staying including the unusual architecture of the home and the day to day sounds she can hear from her window. As she was racing to beat the last call for mail, her long letter is peppered with odd word choices and other mistakes but that is nature of letter writing. Her words convey her enthusiasm and sense of adventure all these many years later. **** The six piece in Havana is a short excerpt from Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene. I just wish there was more to it. I'm scratching my head here at the editor's choice for stopping the excerpt. It's just a tiny hint of the book and if I didn't already love the Carol Reed film, I'd be hard pressed to figure out what's going on from the ten pages or so included in this book. **** The next piece in Havana is a three page scene from The Book of Embraces by Eduardo Galeano. It recounts a humorous ride on the guagua 68 bus. The story whether fiction or not illustrates perfectly the way people can shrug things off and take charge of a situation when things break with routine. In the case of the guagua 68, the bus driver gets distracted by an ice cream eating beauty. At first his unscheduled stop is a source of amusement and then a source of frustration for the passengers. Finally though, one person decides to get things back on schedule with or without the driver. Coming in at the shortest story so far, it is also the funniest. **** The next piece in Havana is a short excerpt from Henry Cabot Lodge's book The War with Spain (1899). You can read the entire book online at Google Books. The excerpt covers pages 23 through 30 of the 277 page book. It covers the Cleveland administration's first dealings with Spain regarding Cuba up through the explosion of the Maine. These events are rushed through but as an introductory chapter to a longer book, they would serve to set the stage for further discussion and analysis. The excerpt does include some interesting details regarding the trip that General Stewart L. Woodford made to Spain and the assassination of Spain's Prime Minister before Woodford's ship arrived. As the excerpt was interesting enough in its disembodied fashion, I am adding the full text to my Google Books library to read when I have more time. **** The next piece in Havana is an essay on fishing marlin by Ernest Hemingway. He originally wrote it for Esquire in 1933 and it was later republished it By-Line: Ernest Hemingway six years after his death. "Marlin off the Morro" reads like a cheat sheet for Old Man and the Sea (1952). Hemingway describes a typical day of fishing for marlin including superstitions about breakfast and what to eat for lunch. The remainder of the essay focuses on the marlin. It talks about where they swim, how they swim, and the different personality types Hemingway had run into while fishing. **** The next piece in Havana is an excerpt from the 1881 book Cuban Sketches by James William Steele. The original book was 220 pages and I'm not convinced that this short selection is a good representation of the whole book. Steele wrote the book while serving as a United States Consul. From the little bit that is included in Havana, "Cuban Sketches" comes off as not much more than a lengthy rant about how backwards the Spaniards living in Cuba were and how uncomfortable any civilized American will be when visiting. The excerpt contains complaints against the colors of the buildings (described as "parti-colored"), the narrow streets, the windowless buildings, horrific food, uncomfortable beds, lack of proper gardens and trees, and so forth. Coming so late in the book after numerous love letters about Cuba, this excerpt comes as a shock. It's a complete departure in tone but it does give a glimpse of what island life was like 120 years ago. ***** The next piece in Havana is an excerpt from the 1993 novel Singing to Cuba by Margarita Engle. The story is based on the author's own trip back to Cuba after years of trying to get permission to visit. This excerpt follows the dark tone of "Cuban Sketches." Clearly this book seems aimed at ending on a critical note. The unnamed protagonist who is a stand-in for the author, is dismayed at how much things have decayed since the revolution. There is also discussion on the lack of choice: cheap state-run beer and plenty of ice cream but no regular sources of food. There are no supplies for repairing homes so the paint and plaster is peeling. For many characters in the story the only way out is suicide and it is the talk of death that ends the excerpt. What this sudden change in the book's tone shows is just how volatile a subject Cuba still in here in the States. I wish though that the book had some discussion about the reasons behind the pieces chosen. ***** The next piece in Havana is a hack job from Maturin M. Ballou's History of Cuba published in 1854. This three part selection is made up for pages 77-9 (the Creole Ladies section), 108-115 (Marti the Smuggler) and 132-135 (Bullfighting). As they are jumbled up together in this presentation they provide nothing more than a bizarre "local color" sketch of life in Cuba in the 1850s. There honestly isn't enough here to write a review. The women of Cuba are simply described by their fancy shoes; Marti the Smuggler is shown making a deal with a former governor, and Bullfighting is briefly but inaccurately described. Taken out of the context of the full text Cuba comes across as a strange backwards place with naive designs on being an outpost of European high culture. If you're not interested in buying the book to read the full text, it is also available online through Google Books. ***** The penultimate selection is the poem "Academic Discourse at Havana" by Wallace Stevens. **** The book closes with an 1849 letter by William Cullen Bryant that he later included in his Letters of a Traveller (1850). Of the recent pieces I read in Havana, Bryant's letter and Wallace's poem seemed the most genuine. I think much of that authenticity stems from them being intact, rather than being excerpts lacking the necessary context. Bryant's Letters of a Traveller is part of the Google Books but I think sometime I would like to hold a copy in my hand and curl up in a comfy chair to read it.